South Africa's rand and government bonds recovered on Tuesday after a sharp sell-off following S&P Global Ratings' decision to cut the country's credit rating to sub-investment grade, while stocks rose led by bullion shares. Full story

South Africa's new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Tuesday he would focus on accelerating reforms to corporate governance at the country's ailing state-owned companies following a downgrade to "junk" by S&P. Full story

Venezuelan security forces quelled rowdy protesters with tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray in Caracas on Tuesday after blocking an opposition rally against unpopular socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Full story

A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. Full story

A Russian suicide bomber originally from mainly Muslim Kyrgyzstan detonated the explosives in a St Petersburg train carriage that killed 14 people and wounded 50, authorities said on Tuesday. Full story

A credit rating downgrade ramped
up pressure on South Africa's assets on Tuesday, sending the
rand tumbling and bond yields rising as political turmoil in the
country exacerbated investors' overall caution towards riskier
assets.. . . Full story

South Africa's rand, bonds
and banking shares tumbled sharply on Tuesday after S&P Global
Ratings cut the country's credit rating to junk in response to
President Jacob Zuma's move to sack its respected finance
minister.. . . Full story

HCI has concluded an agreement (˘Buy-back Agreement÷) with the trustees for the time being of The HCI Foundation (˘HCI Foundation÷) in terms of which HCI will acquire 2 688 000 HCI shares (˘HCI Shares÷) from the HCI Foundation (˘Buy-back Shares÷) (HCI and the HCI Foundation together, ˘the Parties÷), subject to the terms and conditions referred to below, at a price of R140.00 per HCI Share (the ˘Buy-back Price÷) (the ˘Buy-back Transaction÷).
Further announcements
A circular, includin. . . Full story

Revenue for the interim period grew to R47.7 million (R42.9 million). Operating profit before interest improved to R10.4 million (R10.2 million), Profit and total comprehensive income for the year attributable to shareholders dipped to R2.6 million (R5.0 million). In addition, headline. . . Full story

Revenue for the year jumped to NGN455.7 billion (2015: NGN203.4 billion), operating loss came in at NGN7.7 billion (2015: profit of NGN10.4 billion), profit attributable to equity holders of the parent turned around to NGN3.1 billion (2015: loss of NGN50.4 billion),. . . Full story